Finding an Island
by Stormyfalcon
Summary: The Nightwings can't survive in their own home anymore. Queen Dreamweaver decides they have to look for a new place, and after a number of fruitless searches it all comes down to two Nightwing dragonets, a peculiar Icewing, and an unlikely Rainwing ally to explore a strange rumor about an island hidden in the middle of the ocean and save the Nightwings.
1. Prologue

It was a dark, quiet night in Pyrrhia, with no light to be seen but from the three moons, none of which were full. The Skywings slumbered in their palace, the Seawings slept in their secret underwater home, and Mudwings and Sandwings alike slept peacefully.

Not _every _tribe was content, though - the Nightwings stirred restlessly in sleep, trying to block out the sound of the pouring rain.

There was the sound of a torch being lit by a dragon's flame and the pale walls of a cave appeared, bleak and gloomy. The rain could be heard, soft and steady, outside.

Three Nightwing dragons were gathered in the center of the cave, all barely outlined by the light of the torch. The first, an older male, hesitated before he spoke. "Queen Mooncatcher is dead." he sighed. The dragon to his left flinched at this, so he continued. "Dreamweaver... I am sorry. Your mother had many years left in her."

"I suppose it was of the same cause as the others?" Dreamweaver asked, her voice wavering slightly.

"Yes." the third dragon hissed. "Attacked for so called 'trespassing'. She's the third in as many days." He flicked his tail in irritation. "Stormcaller, have you any idea what this means?"

The first dragon nodded, and the light was so dim the others could barely tell he had moved. Eventually Stormcaller spoke. "We cannot survive here. Prey is scarce, and heading to scavenge in other territories isn't working." the elderly Nightwing let out a long breath, and the torch flame flickered slightly. "Swiftshadow -"

"I know what you're going to say, Stormcaller, and I agree with you." the third dragon frowned. "There is no place for us among the other tribes anymore. The Nightwings must leave."

"But - but where would we go?" Dreamweaver asked. "There is no place for us among the tribes, perhaps, but there is nowhere else for us to live."

"We'll find a place!" Swiftshadow nodded. "Perhaps some dragon will have a vision... of a place far off, safe and secure, where we can live in peace." A hint of wistful longing came into the Nightwing's words.

Stormcaller huffed in worry. "You know as well as I do that the visions are not entirely... reliable. Besides, we can't send off our dragons to explore for a new place! It's too dangerous..."

"Stormcaller." Dreamweaver ordered. She seemed to have regained her composure now. "We have to find a new home. I'll ask for volunteers to go looking tomorrow."

"Well - I -" Stormcaller stuttered.

"_Enough. _I'm the queen of the Nightwings now. My decision stays." she said. The three Nightwings fell silent, listening to the rain pour outside. Eventually Swiftshadow spoke.

"If that's all you've got to say, then I'm heading to catch a few hours of sleep before sunrise." he shrugged, skittering out of the cave before Stormcaller or Dreamweaver could stop him.

"That's that, then." Stormcaller sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow, your majesty." he started to walk out after Swiftshadow, but the queen stopped him.

"No - just Dreamweaver. I'm not used to being called your majesty yet." she objected. The elderly Nightwing looked back to see the former princess staring at him worriedly, her eyes bright with anxiety.

Turning his frown into a smile, he nodded. "Ok. See you tomorrow, Dreamweaver."

He exited, leaving the new queen of the Nightwings alone with the softly glowing light of the torch. She paused for a moment, then snuffed the flame with a flick of her claws.

Once again everything was quiet, and the only sound was the rain. The three moons shone above, barely noticeable through the light sprinkling of clouds.

For a single moment, the clouds parted and a single star could be seen, but the moment was soon lost as the clouds closed up again.

It might have been a sign - if any Nightwing had been around to see it.


	2. Chapter 1

Windchaser didn't have any powers.

She was reminded of this fact daily. Her older brother, Hiddenmeaning, had been named for his ability to look to visions to find things no other Nightwing could. Her sister, Truthteller, was named for almost the same reason - finding the truth through her visions.

And then the was her. Windchaser. Named for her somewhat whimsical personality - which almost every dragon disliked.

_"Train harder! Be faster, smarter - make up for the fact that you likely won't have any powers! Be a real Nightwing, one like Queen Mooncatcher!" _the older Nightwings would say. Her training never went that well - she did try to concentrate, but something would catch her attention, and she'd start thinking about it.

No powers. It was the absolute worst for a dragonet not to have any powers. Windchaser had tried time and time again to hear another dragon's thoughts, or get a vision. Maybe she'd get a tiny little snippet of a thought, or the faintest hint of an elusive vision, but if she tried to concentrate harder it vanished.

It was knowing that her powers were so close, yet so far away, that was infuriating.

The only other Nightwing dragonet just about as 'useless' as her was Daywatcher. He was named for his strange obsesson with the light, and bright colors. As the adult Nightwings said, it was strange. A little bit too strange.

Strange kind of like Windchaser. But then again, the Nightwings called anything strange if they didn't like it. Which included the sun and practically all the other dragon tribes.

Daywatcher was one of Windchaser's best friends. Well, her only best friend. And Daywatcher always made sure she got up at sunrise.

That wasn't Windchaser's favorite thing about her friend, but at least he didn't brag like her siblings.

Speaking of Daywatcher, at that moment a claw poking her in the shoulder interrupted her thoughts. Wearily, she opened her eyes and yawned widely. "I was already awake."

"You were? That's great! I totally thought I'd have to throw you in the ocean or something." Daywatcher replied, grinning. "Like yesterday."

"Today's different." Windchaser replied. She paused, thinking. "Is it sunrise?"

"Yes! That's why I was going to tell you -" Daywatcher nodded enthusiastically. "Princess Dreamweaver's called a meeting - of the whole tribe! At sunrise! How crazy is that?"

"What?" Windchaser gaped, confused. "What about? A-are we going?" she stuttered, a thousand thoughts running through her head at once.

"Why else would I wake you up?" came Daywatcher's reply. He yanked on one of Windchaser's legs. "Come on! Come on! I want to be up front so we can hear _everything_!"

Windchaser got to all four of her feet, then grinned. "I'll race you to the meeting cave!" she exclaimed before darting away, flapping off into the trees. Daywatcher blinked once in confusion, then raced after her.

* * *

The two dragonets swooped through the trees and into the huge cave that was used for meetings. Daywatcher had been right - the whole tribe was gathered. They alighted near the back of the crowd, unlike what Daywatcher had wanted. Windchaser peered over the rows and rows of black dragons.

Princess Dreamweaver was sitting on the highest rock ledge. The two advisors, Stormcaller and Swiftshadow, sat on either side of her.

Queen Mooncatcher was nowhere to be seen. That was pretty suspicious - the queen insisted at being present at every tribe meeting - but this time the queen's place, in between Stormcaller and the princess, was empty. All three of the dragons looked fidgety, as if there was some bad new they didn't want to tell the others.

The crowd of Nightwings were all murmuring to each other. Windchaser strained her ears as she tried to pick up a conversation.

"What does she want?"

"I hear tell the Icewings attacked us - again!"

"Well _I _think they're going to announce a new law. Any moment now."

"What are you, a loony scavenger? The queen has to be present when a law's announced - and she's not here, is she, featherbrain?"

"Featherbrain yourself!"

"Slimy slug!"

"Crazy weirdo!"

One shout rose above all the others - Swiftshadow's. "SILENCE!"

Everything fell quiet as every dragon looked up at the high ledge where the three dragons sat. Princess Dreamweaver took a small step forward. "I have some bad news for you all." There was a pause in which the princess let her gaze flit from dragon to dragon. "Queen Mooncatcher is..."

One unruly Nightwing hissed in annoyance. "What is she? Where is she? I haven't seen the queen in half a week."

"Silence, Starteller, or face the consequences." Stormcaller frowned, narrowing his eyes. Windchaser sensed a hint of worry in his voice.

"Queen Mooncatcher..." Dreamweaver began again, her voice strained."...is dead."


	3. Chapter 2

The whole meeting cave was chaos. Dragons gasped, ran around screeching, stood there wide-eyed. It might never have stopped if Swiftshadow hadn't blasted a breath of fire over every dragon's head and shouted again. "QUIET! ALL OF YOU!"

The massive crowd of Nightwings fell silent. Then Starteller spoke up again. "Why did none of us have a vision about this?"

Windchaser's siblings, Hiddenmeaning and Truthteller, frowned. "You know as well as anyone that visions don't come when called." Hiddenmeaning huffed.

"What happened to her?" Truthteller asked.

Princess - or was is queen now? - Dreamweaver opened her mouth, about to speak, but then she stopped. Stormcaller spoke for her. "Queen Mooncatcher was killed by the Icewings after heading over to their territory in search of prey."

Starteller's eyes widened and his voice dropped into a snarl. "This means war."

Dreamweaver seemed to find her voice. "No, it doesn't. It means something else." she announced. "We can't stay here any longer and survive."

There were more outraged cries and angry flapping of wings from the gathered dragons. Somehow the new queen managed to speak over the crowd. "There is no other way. The Nightwings will find a new home, safe and far away from the other tribes where we can live in peace."

Meeting no resistance, Dreamweaver continued. "Search parties will be sent out to look for this new home. Anyone who wants to go can - but you must be over 10 years." There were a few grumbled of annoyance from the younger dragonets, but Windchaser breathed a sigh of relief. She and Daywatcher were both 11 years old - they could go looking!

Wait... but did she really want to go looking? Sure, it seemed like a good adventure, but after the death of Queen Mooncatcher, Windchaser wasn't sure that flying over enemy territory was a good idea. Not that she didn't not want to go, but not going seemed better. Or did going, but not with Daywatcher seem better? Or maybe just going.

Daywatcher's voice jolted her from her thoughts. "Erm... Windchaser? Why are you sitting there all stare-y?" he asked. "The meeting's over."

"The meeting?" Windchaser blinked in confusion. "Oh, right! The meeting! Well..."

"Well? Are we going on a search party? I bet we could go ourselves!" Daywatcher interrupted.

"Do you want to go?" Windchaser asked. "For real? I mean -"

"I don't even understand why you bother asking. Of course! Just think, the open sky, sun by day and moons by night." Daywatcher sighed wistfully. "Of course we'll have to go! Maybe tomorrow!"

* * *

No dragon was happy about the two powerless dragonets going looking on their own, but the queen had said any dragon over 10 years could go, and she was determined to stick to her word. So it was dawn the day after the tribe meeting that Windchaser and Daywatcher set off. Stormcaller had told them to be back by the end of the week.

Daywatcher was a bundle of energy, flapping around doing tricks in the air and trying to get Windchaser to play tag with him. She, however, had a lot to think about - like the impending threat of Icewings attacking them once they trespassed.

Daywatcher darted forward and circled back around for the hundredth time that morning. "Where are we going to go? Icewing territory?" he asked.

Windchaser shivered at the very thought of flying through the kingdom of the white dragons with the freezing death-breath. Still, there was no other choice. "Yes. We head to the kingdom of the Icewings. Hopefully we'll only have to be there a day or two."

"Ok!" Daywatcher nodded. "Race you there!" the Nightwing shouted next, flapping ahead. Windchaser grinned before flying after him.

Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as she thought.


End file.
